WHEN he walked into the offices of family owned recruitment specialists The Parr Group 13 years ago to get his CV professionally updated, the last thing on Brian Lawton's mind was taking over the company.
Even as recently as last Summer, when Mr Lawton, by then Business Development Manager, was approached by managing director John Parr to take over the business, he was reluctant to take the helm.
Mr Lawton said: "I had been in business before, and it is an awful lot of responsibility. I had been running the business more and more because John had been developing his own specialist training enterprise, which had a number of blue-chip clients, but I still said that I wasn't very interested."
It was not until last October, when Mr Parr made it clear that he was eager to dispose of the business to pursue his own interests, that Mr Lawton seriously considered re-entering the owner-manager spectrum.
Mr Lawton said: "I suppose there was the lingering anxiety that if someone didn't step in, the company might just end up closing down."
So Mr Lawton and branch manager Ian Blackledge consulted with each other, and then with accountants Bentleys in Chorley New Road and the Yorkshire Bank in Princess Street.
Five months later following a successful management buyout, both Mr Lawton and Mr Blackledge are the new co-directors of The Parr Group, taking the company towards its 20th anniversary in May. They have ambitious diversification plans that are already paying off.
Mr Lawton said: "We believe this is going to be a successful partnership. We have already invested in the business, and that investment is paying dividends immediately."
For the last 20 years, the company has carved out a name for itself as specialists in commercial, industrial, temporary and permanent recruitment and training, but it is now coupled with new divisions.
Mr Lawton said: "We have kept the recruitment division going, and we will carry that on and develop it. That is what we are known for and it currently constitutes about 80 per cent of the business. But the recruitment market is very competitive, and we decided late 2005 that we needed to move into new markets."
To diversify, the company turned to the field of health and safety.
"We started to look at health and safety, and opened a health and safety division early last year. And then last Summer, we became aware of the new compulsory Fire Risk Assessments that were coming in to force in October 2006.
"We got the flyers out and have so far carried out about 90 assessments for large and small businesses across the North-west. And it is growing all the time."
And the pair have already used their fire risk division to spot another opportunity.
"As we were carrying out the fire assessments, people used to ask us what we actually knew about fire extinguishers themselves. At the time we said nothing, but as we went along, we discovered that a lot of companies were confused as to what they were actually paying for when they had their extinguishers serviced.
"It led Ian and I to make a decision. We, along with the rest of our staff, went on a course that led to us being able to service fire extinguishers. This has now led to the launch of The Parr Group's fire protection arm, which is proving very successful.
"It has allowed us to effectively offer a one-stop solution, which has been snapped up by customers as far away as Derbyshire.
"We give a good service that is very affordable, we can still offer extremely competitive rates which have already saved companies hundreds of pounds.
"If anything is going to show spectacular growth, it will be the fire protection services division."
The optimism that comes from being the owner managers of a growing business is clear to see, both with Mr Lawton and Mr Blackledge, although their backgrounds are very different.
After leaving school, Mr Blackledge, aged 40, worked in the bakery of his father's pie shop, Suttons Confectioners on Manchester Road, before the completion of his football coaching certificates took him to the USA.
Mr Blackledge said: "I taught soccer to high school kids in New Jersey for three years, which was great fun. I came back, got married and had to start earning some proper money."
He joined Eagley Plastics as a machinist and ended up managing the warehouse when the company moved to Chinley in Derbyshire. He returned to Bolton, where he met Mr Lawton and joined the Parr Group. His industrial experience proved useful.
Mr Lawton was a time-served toolmaker at Dobson & Barlow, before he set up his own engineering company in 1980, which he ran until 1993.
"So here I am, back in business at the age of 56 and loving every minute of it," said Mr Lawton.
"It would be wrong to say we are nervous. It's an exciting time for us and the busniess. Both Ian and have worked together for more than eight years, it is a successful partnership.
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